RELATIONSHIPS OF CONSUMER CHARACTERISTICS AND FOOD-DEPRIVATION TO FOOD PURCHASING BEHAVIOR

A large part of domestic food intake may be determined by retail food purchase behavior, and it is commonly believed that this may be signif icantly influenced by the shopper's state of food deprivation. In the present study, 198 subjects recruited just prior to shopping at a larg e supermarket completed questionnaires eliciting information on demogr aphic and situational variables, along with measures of time since las t earing (TSLE), hunger, and dietary restraint. Upon leaving the store , subjects provided investigators with itemized receipts, having first identified all ''unintended'' purchases. There were no consistent min effects of TSLE, self-reported hunger, dietary restraint scores, or r elative body weight on the number or cost of total, intended, and unin tended food and nonfood purchases. However, there were significant int eractions of weight status and measures of food deprivation upon measu res of food purchasing. Although normal-weight subjects tended to incr ease their food purchases with food deprivation, the number and cost o f food items fell markedly with extended food deprivation among overwe ight subjects. These effects were largely specific to food (i.e., gene rally not observed for nonfood purchases), but showed no consistent as sociations with unintended purchases or with particular foods or food groups. Higher dietary restraint and relative body weight were associa ted with lower reported hunger ratings, but not differences in mean TS LE, or other subject characteristics. These results run directly count er to common beliefs and recommendations for weight control and dietin g, but support earlier work indicating that the food purchasing behavi ors of normal-weight and overweight individuals are differently affect ed by food deprivation. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Inc.